EAST LANSING — Moments after Michigan State clinched its first Big Ten championship in 20 years with a 2010 win at Penn State, then-quarterback Kirk Cousins stood on the field and told reporters of the “thousand invisible mornings” necessary to win a championship.

The day after MSU won its first outright Big Ten title in 26 years, senior linebacker Max Bullough talked about those same mornings and how important they’ve been in changing the perception of a program. From seventh-year coach Mark Dantonio to 19th-year strength coach Ken Mannie to the winningest senior class in school history, it has been about the process.

“We have an example set for us every day — we’re young kids, I’m 21 years old, there are plenty of days when I’m not fully into it,” Bullough said Sunday after a 34-24 win over Ohio State to win the Big Ten. “And we have guys like Coach (Dantonio) and especially Coach Mannie — just every day, just on it. Every day, on it. ‘What are you gonna do to get better today?’

“You know, it’s Tuesday in the 13th, 14th week of the season and you don’t want to lift at 5:50 in the morning. But Coach Mannie wants to lift — for some psycho reason. You know? He’s ready to go. So it’s a credit to the players, but it’s also a credit to the coaches, just being ready to go. That’s just the way we operate.”

The No. 4 Spartans (12-1) will finish their season against No. 5 (Stanford (11-2) on Jan. 1 at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. This is the program’s first outright Big Ten title and Rose Bowl in 26 years, but it is also the third season out of four with 11 or more victories.

That brings the question of how, exactly, Dantonio has brought consistency not seen since the program’s 1950s/1960s height. He pointed to the team-wide grade-point average of 2.7, highest on record, among other things.

“I think for the most part our players are staying out of problems, and we have great chemistry on our football team,” he said. “We have great relationships with our former players. It’s so nice to hear from them and see them. And that’s really how I determine what is success and what is not — how people feel when they leave here. Obviously, everybody’s not going to feel the same, but that’s how I’ve determined success.

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“Because winning ... is so difficult to maintain, and it will drive you crazy. If it’s all about winning, it’s going to, I think, take you over the edge at some point. So I’ve tried to really formulate our success on the basis of those things. Winning comes as a product of that. I’ve said over and over and over, people see the product. They don’t understand and don’t see the process.”

It has included ups and downs on and off the field. Bullough said that through “all the crap” MSU has encountered, Dantonio has tried to do what he believes is right, despite outside pressures.

That “might be the biggest thing I get from this place,” Bullough said, and it has made Dantonio a model in his eyes.

“In terms of what kind of a man you should be, what kind of a person you should be like, and most of all, what kind of dad, husband, father, whatever it is, you should be like,” Bullough said. “Sometimes you look at coach D. and you’re like, ‘Man, he’s so level-headed, he’s so smooth, so cool – I can’t be like that, I’m too messed up.’”

“Messed up” describes how people used to view the MSU football program. Day by day, Dantonio, his coaches and his players have gone to work on those notions.

“Like you asked, ‘How are you motivated to play Stanford?’ What do you mean, how am I motivated to play Stanford?” Bullough said. “They’re next. That’s how we’re motivated to play Stanford. They’re lining up against us and they’re calling us out. That’s how you’re motivated, because you’re that competitive. So if you just approach each day like that …”

You can change in years something as big as a perception built over decades.